A filmmaker burns his clapperboard for warmth. A schoolteacher scavenges to feed his students. A stand-up comedian arrives at a gig to find the venue bombed. In “From Ground Zero,” Palestine’s entry for the Oscars’ international feature film category, 22 directors present cinematic diaries from Gaza, shot in between (and sometimes, during) IDF bombing raids to weave a portrait of life under siege. Each short is unique in its conception, and yet, is bound by a common resilience, and a need to document the violent interruption of life and routine.

Stricken from the Cannes lineup back in May on political grounds, the anthology was screened just outside the festival as an act of protest: a fitting premiere for a defiant act of creativity in the face of genocide. Coordinated and funded by filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, “From Ground Zero” brings dozens of emerging artists to the fore, as they present digital memories and DIY chronicles of modern life in the Gaza Strip. The shorts range from a couple of minutes in length to nearly ten. Some are charming and wistful, like Reema Mahmoud’s opening documentary portrait “Selfies,” about a young woman using makeup to disguise her stress and retain a sense of femininity as the world crumbles around her. Others, like Muhammad Alshareef’s “No Signal”— which immediately follows “Selfies” — use the rubble of collapsed buildings to stage intense fictitious scenes drawn from reality.